[Math] How to think of the Zariski tangent space

algebraic-geometryschemes

The Zariski tangent space at a point $\mathfrak m$ is defined as the dual of $\mathfrak m/\mathfrak m ^2$. While I do appreciate this definition, I find it hard to work with, because we are not given an isomorphism from $\mathfrak m/\mathfrak m^2$ to $(\mathfrak m/\mathfrak m ^2)^\vee$ (which I'd wish for at least in the finite dimensional case so that I could put my hands on something concrete).

So my question is: how does one go from this abstract definition to actually writing down what is the $T_{X,p}$ as a scheme? To take a simple case, we might consider $$X=k[x,y,z]/(x+y+z^2,x+y+z^3); \qquad p=(x-0,y-0,z-0)$$

Then, the cotangent space is easy to calculate. It is the plane cut out by $x+y$, i.e. it is the scheme $k[x,y,z]/(x+y)$. But what is the tangent space as a scheme?

Best Answer

I'm a little confused as to why you'd want to consider the tangent space as a scheme. The scheme structure, if any, would come from the fact that it's a vector space, not because there is some natural scheme structure on it. For example, in topology, one doesn't often consider the cotangent space to be a manifold.

That said, one can ask for a scheme structure on the tangent bundle of a variety (or, more generally, the relative cotangent space of a map $X\to Y$ of schemes). This parallels exactly what one does in the case of topology--one considers the cotangent bundle of a manifold as a manifold.

To define the tangent bundle is a bit involved. For a variety $X/k$ the cotangent bundle is $\mathcal{Spec}(\text{Symm }\Omega_{X/k})$ where $\Omega_{X/k}$ is the cotangent sheaf. This looks a little confusing, but it's because I'm making some identifications. Namely, the tangent sheaf is the dual $\Omega_{X/k}^\vee$, and then the vector bundle associated to that is $\mathcal{Spec}(\text{Symm }(\Omega_{X/k}^\vee)^\vee)$ which is the same thing (in the case $X$ is a variety) as what I wrote above.

I think what you may be asking though is not what the scheme structure of the tangent space is, but what is the vector space structure. For an affine finite type $k$-scheme, and a $k$-rational point (i.e. one of the form $(x-a,y-b,z-c)$) there is a very natural way to describe the space.

Namely, let $X=k[x_1,\ldots,x_n]/(f_1,\ldots,f_r)$ be our affine finite type $k$-scheme and $p=(a_1,\ldots,a_n)=(x_1-a_1,\ldots,x_n-a_n)$ be our point. We obtain a linear map $J_p:k^n\to k^r$ defined by the Jacobian map:

$$J_p=\begin{pmatrix}\frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_1}(p) & \cdots & \frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_n}(p)\\ \vdots & \ddots & \vdots\\ \frac{\partial f_r}{\partial x_1}(p) & \cdots & \frac{\partial f_r}{\partial x_n}(p)\end{pmatrix}$$

Then, one can show that $T_{X,p}$ is isomorphic to $\ker J_p$.

This is a good exercise, one I leave to you. I will outline the idea though. First, prove the proposition for $r=0$ (i.e. $X=\mathbb{A}^n$). Then, identify any $X$ (written as above) as the zero set of a map $f:\mathbb{A}^n\to\mathbb{A}^r$. This will allow you to write an "exact sequence" $X\to\mathbb{A}^n\to\mathbb{A}^r$. This will actually be an exact sequence when you move to ideal land. You can then show that $T_{X,p}$ will be the kernel of the induced map $T_{\mathbb{A}^n,p}\to T_{\mathbb{A}_n,f(p)}$ which, when you identify these spaces with $k^n$ and $k^r$ (as you should have in the first step) will just be the map $J_p$.

One can actually identify the tangent space of an affine finite type $k$-scheme $X$ as the kernel of the Jacobian (defined appropriately) for any $p\in X$ where $p$ is a closed point with $k(p)/k$ separable. It fails in the non-separable case: think about $\text{Spec}(\mathbb{F}_p(T^{\frac{1}{p}}))/\mathbb{F}_p$.

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